The Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) last week detailed its allegations against an Irvine company that supposedly hawked a “bogus” auto-performance device, but an attorney for the accused vehemently denied the charges.
The OCDA filed a consumer protection complaint in October against Gold Star Auto Sound, Inc., but just last week detailed its case while reaching out to the public for more victims of a company alleged to have produced numerous customer complaints.
Prosecutors are taking aim specifically at Gold Star's GFORCE CHIPS, which are marketed nationally to help automobiles improve acceleration and fuel economy. They cost $69 each and come with a circuit board but no software, according to the OCDA.
“We vehemently deny all the allegations,” Gold Star attorney Ali Mirhosseini told City News Service last week. “As a matter of fact, we have retained top experts in the country who have tested our product and they have provided reports of the accuracy of the product. We expect to prevail on the merits.”
Company owner Ravi Ghataode was also sued for unlawful business practices and false advertising by the OCDA in 2011 and went on to settle that claim for $200,000, according to the report.
The OCDA asks that anyone who has bought Gold Star's GFORCE CHIPS to call a consumer fraud hotline at 714.834.6553.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.